Read me on the WEbook blog!

I thought perhaps you might be interested in checking out this mini-article I wrote recently for Melissa Jones's WEbook blog.

As you'll see, it's a tip that's relevant mainly to fiction writers, though there's no reason why non-fiction authors can't use it as well. Not long ago I ran a workshop on this topic for the Lichfield & District Writers, and their members were impressed by the improvement that applying this one piece of advice made to their work.

The article also gives me the opportunity to highlight WEbook again. WEbook is a collaborative writing project that gives authors the chance to work together in a wide range of writing projects centred around the WEbook website. You can read all about it in this article by Melissa Jones which I published a few weeks ago on my blog. And yes, they are still very much open to new members.

I'd also like to give a quick plug for the book I used as an example in my piece for the WEbook blog. Painter Man is the first novel by my old friend and sometime collaborator Jeff Phelps. You can hear Jeff being interviewed about his book on WritersFM, and read my blog post about it here.

Painter Man, like What Was Lost which I raved about recently in this post, is published by Tindal Street Press, a small, Birmingham-based publishing house which regularly punches above its weight in literary awards. Painter Man is quite different from What Was Lost, but both books are well observed and beautifully written, and I'm disappointed that Painter Man has not (yet) received the recognition it deserves.

Anyway, I've included links to Painter Man on Amazon (com/uk) below, in case you're interested in finding out more about this excellent novel. As ever, if you're receiving this post by email, you will need to visit my blog to see the image links.

Mywriterscircle.com makes Writers Digest 101 Best Websites List!

I just found out that my forum at www.mywriterscircle.com has made the prestigious Writers Digest Magazine 101 Best Websites for Writers list for another year. Huge thanks to everybody who voted for us!

The list is actually a great resource for discovering the best and most popular sites for writers. Even if you've been online for a while, there's a good chance you'll find some writing sites here you haven't seen before. I'm certainly planning to check out some of the less familiar names myself.

We still need your votes for 2009, however! If you agree that Mywriterscircle.com is one of the top online resources for writers, please send an email nominating the site to writersdig@fwpubs.com with '101 Websites' as the subject line. January 1, 2009 is the deadline for the 2009 list.

Many thanks!

Great Advice on Being More Productive

Just wanted to share with you an article I read on this subject by Collis Ta'eed. It's a guest post on Leo Babauta's Zenhabits blog.

Collis's post is titled How to Get a Lot Done - Seven Tips to Achieve More. In fact, there are really more than seven tips, as several of the items have 'sub-tips' listed under them.

Here's one tip I found particularly interesting:

2. Plan, plan, plan!

If you want to make the most effective use of your time, you need a plan. Without one, trying to do a lot will give you a major stress attack. Whether it's daily to-do lists, business plans, or a productivity system, choose your weapons and put them to use.

Personally I have two planning tools that I use constantly. Next to me I keep a notepad with daily to-do lists. They usually span two A4 pages because I like to do some serious multi-tasking.

I also carry a Moleskine notebook with me literally everywhere I go. I spend a couple of hours a week writing ideas, goals, plans, and lists in it. What's coming up next, how to increase income on a website, lists of actionables to launch a new project, the chapters for a book, points to write in an article. You name it, it's in there, combined with enough squiggles and doodles to impress the most idle mind.

All this planning means that my time in front of a computer is spent purely executing. There's less wondering 'what next?' or 'what should I write?' and more getting things done.

I can really relate to this. When you're a busy working freelance writer with a number of regular clients, it's easy to spend all your time working to other people's agendas, and not focusing enough on your own goals and priorities.

Anyway, having read Collis's article, I'm determined to spend a bit more time on planning my own schedule in future. And I'll be doing my best to apply his other productivity advice as well!

Bad Grammar in a Holiday Brochure

Here's a sentence from the current 'Manos' Greek holidays brochure. Can you spot the mistake?

Unwind amongst the tranquil setting of the Anaxos Hotel.

And yes, as you may have noticed, this happens to describe the place where Jayne and I recently enjoyed a week's holiday!

Anyway, full marks if you noticed that the problem word is 'amongst'.

'Amongst' (or 'among') is normally used to introduce countable, plural nouns. So it would be fine to write:

He knew that he was among friends.
They reached an agreement among themselves.
He delved among the dusty papers for his father's letter.

But 'among' cannot, in standard English, be used for uncountable mass nouns, such as 'the tranquil setting' in the holiday brochure. An alternative is the word 'amid', as in the examples below...

Amid the confusion, she heard Jim calling her name.
The rescuers searched frantically amid the wreckage.
The hotel is located amid unspoiled countryside.

and, of course,

Unwind amid the tranquil setting of the Anaxos Hotel.

Or, as Jayne suggested when I mentioned this to her, you could simply say 'in'. But I must admit to liking the word 'amid', even if it does have a slightly literary ring to it!

Incidentally, 'among' can also be used with singular collective nouns such as 'herd' and 'audience' which consist of countable individuals.

There was panic among the herd.
A murmur arose among the audience.

Although where there are just two items, 'between' is normally preferred to 'among'.

She divided the pie between [not among] Robert and Philip.

'Amongst' and 'amidst' mean exactly the same as 'among' and 'amid'. They are, however, less concise, and also rather old-fashioned (especially 'amidst', which could also be seen as a bit pretentious). In most cases, therefore, I think it's better to use the shorter versions. Here's an example from What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn, an otherwise excellent book which I reviewed recently in this post.

Her home was in the only Victorian block of houses left in the area, a red-brick three-storey outcrop which looked uncomfortable amidst the grey and white council cuboids.

'Amidst' isn't actually ungrammatical here - amidst (or amid) can be used with plural nouns, as it simply means 'in the middle of'. In modern usage, however, 'amongst' (or among) is normally preferred in this context. I would therefore change the word in the sentence above to 'among' (also losing the archaic -st ending), so it reads:

Her home was in the only Victorian block of houses left in the area, a red-brick three-storey outcrop which looked uncomfortable among the grey and white council cuboids.

Just my opinion, of course, but I think that reads much better!

* If you need advice on bringing your writing up to a publishable standard, check out my new course from WCCL, Essential English for Authors.

Writers Bureau Poetry & Short Story Contest

There is still just time to enter the 2008 Poetry and Short Story Competition run by my old friends at The Writers Bureau.

For those who don't know, The Writers Bureau is the UK's leading distance learning college for writers. In days gone by I was a freelance tutor and assessor for them, and I also wrote some of their course material.

The competition is for short stories no longer than 2000 words and poems of up to 40 lines. There is an entry fee of 5 UKP or 9 USD per entry, unless you also happen to subscribe to their newsletter Freelance Market News, in which case reduced fees of 4 UKP/7 USD apply. Work may be on any subject or theme, but should not have been previously published.

The top prize in each category is 1,000 UKP (almost 2,000 USD). There are also nine further prizes in each category, comprising 400, 200, 100 and six prizes of 50 UKP.

The judge for the poetry competition is Alison Chisholm, while for short stories it is Iain Pattison. I know Iain in particular quite well (buyers of my Quick Cash Writing course can read one his excellent stories in the Short Stories module), and you might perhaps be interested to check out this old issue of my E-Writer newsletter, where I set out some of Iain's own advice to people entering short story contests. It's always useful to know what the judge of a writing competition is looking for!

Finally, the closing date is 30 June 2008, so you'll need to get your entry in pretty soon. Here's another link to the full competition details.

Good luck!

The Top US Market Guide for Writers

In this post last week I reviewed the three top UK market guides for writers.

Well, as promised, in this post I'm doing the same thing for the US market. But this will be a much shorter post, because there is actually only one major annual guide to the US marketplace for writers. That's the blockbusting Writer's Market, from Writer's Digest Books.

Like the UK guides I mentioned last week, Writer's Market is published annually. The 2008 edition - the most recent currently available - weighs in at a massive 1176 pages, and claims to include over 4000 listings for book publishers, consumer magazines, trade journals, literary agents, and so on.

The current (2008) edition was published on 1 July 2007, so I would expect the 2009 edition to come out very soon. Till then, here are links to the book's pages at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. As ever, if you are receiving this post by email, you will need to visit my blog to see these.




Although I am UK-based I do a lot of work for US publishers, and until recently I bought Writer's Market every year. This year, however, I decided to subscribe to their online version at http://www.writersmarket.com/ instead. This is reasonably priced at $29.99 a year (around 16 UKP), for which you get everything in the printed version and more, plus the market listings are continuously updated. I might still buy the printed book occasionally in the future, but actually I find the online version meets my day-to-day needs very well, and it takes up less space on my bookshelf ;-)

Finally, I should mention that although it is primarily a guide to the US marketplace, Writer's Market also lists publishers and magazines in other countries, notably Canada, Australia and the UK. It also has an excellent selection of articles about all aspects of freelance writing. If you write for the huge US market, or hope to, either the printed or online version of Writer's Market is probably going to be an essential for you.

New Writing Tuition Service

I thought some of you might be interested to know that Mywriterscircle.com stalwart John Craggs, aka Gyppo, has just launched his own online writing tuition service at http://thewritetuition.co.uk. As he says on the site:

Let me ask you three questions, so you can decide if you're interested in becoming one of my students.

Would you like to see the world differently?

To see it with a Writer's Eye?

Write copy which makes the reader sit up and take notice?

If so then you're already in the right place. My main aim in the early stages is to help you discover your abilities as a writer before getting too hung up on the finer details. To help find your own niche as a writer, your strengths and weaknesses. I'll help you develop the essential Writer's Eye, and Writer's Ears, a major boost for fiction writers. It will also help the writer of non-fiction.

Members of Mywriterscircle.com will already know John well in his Gyppo guise. He regularly provides feedback and constructive criticism to forum members, a number of whom have already signed up for his one-to-one tuition service.

Even if you're not looking for personal tuition, however, it's still well worth visiting John's new site, as he has a range of useful resources for writers on it, and is constantly adding more. One of his latest additions is an article on guns and how they are used, from a writer's perspective.

John has a varied and colourful history, having worked at various times as a baker/confectioner, writing and crafts tutor, postman, storyteller, and arena showman. He is an expert knife-thrower, axe-thrower and quarterstaff fighter. And he's also a prolific writer. You can read all about him in his own words in a fascinating article on Linda Jones's Freelance Writing Tips blog. Check it out!

Best UK Market Directories for Writers

We may not even be half-way through 2008, but already the 2009 market directories are coming out.

So I thought in this post I would take a look at the three main UK directories. I'll save the US market guides for another post.

As a UK-based freelance, I buy at least one of these guides every year. The content varies between them, but they all include comprehensive lists of UK publishers, agents, magazines, newspapers, and so on. Nowadays, as well, they include a growing range of articles and ancillary information. If you're serious about making a living from your writing, and UK-based or want to write for UK markets, having a current edition of one of these guides on your bookshelf is, in my view, essential.

The best known, and longest-established, guide to the UK market is The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook, published by A&C Black. I've posted a link to the 2009 book's page at Amazon.co.uk below. As ever, if you're receiving this post by email, you will need to visit my blog to see this.


The 2009 WAYB is published on 15 June 2008, and has a foreword by Kate Mosse. It weighs in at 832 pages and is available for 9.89 UK pounds from Amazon.

The WAYB is still the favourite UK market guide of many writers. It has a good range of publishers and markets, and unlike the other guides includes information specifically aimed at freelance artists and photographers as well. It has a website at http://www.writersandartists.co.uk/, which includes a free search facility (although the only info given for a magazine or publisher is its website and email address). You won't go far wrong with the WAYB, but its two main competitors are ahead in some respects.

The WAYB's longest-standing rival is The Writer's Handbook, published by Macmillan. You'll have a little longer to wait for this one - the 2009 edition is due out on 25 July 2008. Here's a link to its Amazon page...


The 2009 Writer's Handbook also has 832 pages and costs 9.89 UKP on Amazon (what a coincidence!). It is edited, as usual, by Barry Turner. The Writer's Handbook has been my favourite market guide for a few years now. There's more information on writing for newspapers and magazines, and more on radio, TV, small presses and theatre companies. The new 2009 edition also apparently includes free online access to The Writer's Handbook website, offering a directory of markets and some additional resources and advice for writers. I don't have a URL for this, however, and assume the site is not operational yet (unless you know otherwise?). The obvious URL at http://www.writershandbook.co.uk/ seems to be owned by someone else and is currently up for offers. I assume some frantic behind-the-scenes negotiation is going on!

The last of the three UK directories is the 'new kid on the block'. Writer's Market UK comes from David & Charles and is edited by Caroline Taggart. The 2009 edition was published back in April this year at a slightly cheaper price of 8.99 UKP on Amazon.co.uk. It weighs in at an impressive 976 pages.


I bought Writer's Market UK for the first time this year, and was impressed by what I found. The presentation is more attractive than either of the two rival guides, who will have to start looking to their laurels. There are nearly 100 pages of articles on most aspects of writing, as well as a particularly wide range of publishing houses. There is a also a good selection of writing websites.

One thing I found a little bit confusing was that some magazines were listed under Publishers - so having looked for, and failed to find, the details for Readers Digest under Magazines, I fortuitously discovered them later under Readers Digest Association in the Publishers section. To be fair, I could have looked up Readers Digest in the index at the back of the book and found it there, but at the time I assumed it just wasn't listed.

Buyers of Writers Market UK also get a one-month free trial of their online service at http://www.writersmarket.co.uk/. After that, I assume you have to pay, but despite my best efforts I haven't been able to find out what they charge.

These are all excellent guides, but my overall recommendation goes to Writer's Market UK at the moment. When The Writer's Handbook 2009 comes out, with its promised free website, that may also be worth considering. The Writers' & Artists' Yearbook is slightly behind the other two in my view, but if your interests also extend to photography and art, it may nevertheless be your best choice.

Guest Post: Stop Making Excuses!

Today I'm pleased to welcome a new guest author to my blog, Ruth Barringham.

Ruth is a prolific and successful author and publisher, and I'm also very pleased to count her as a friend and collaborator. Here she offers some good advice for everyone - which includes me on occasion - who claims that they don't have time to write.

Stop Making Excuses! - by Ruth Barringham

The biggest complaint of most would-be freelance writers and authors is that they don't have time to write.

Wrong!

Everyone has time to write. We all have the same 24 hours in every day. The difference between us all is how we spend our time.

Some people do actually manage to squeeze in a couple of hours to write during their busy day. But instead of focusing on their work, they waste their time reading unimportant emails or online articles that are irrelevant to what they should be doing.

Does this sound like you?

Well, don't worry, you're not alone.

Most writers are the same. We all say we love to write and will even spend all day thinking about it. Yet when it comes to actually sitting down and beginning to write, we'll look for other things to distract us.

But to be a successful writer you need to be able to write quickly and be as productive as possible, and you won't be able to do this if you constantly allow your attention to be diverted when you should be writing.

So here's a word that is the most important to anyone who wants to be successful in anything and everything they do. Knowing this word and having a complete understanding of its meaning can change you from a reluctant writer into a hard working and profitable writer.

And that word is - FOCUS.

When you know you should be writing, focus on it. Force yourself to apply bum-to-chair. Once you're sitting comfortably, begin the task of writing immediately. Don't check your emails or surf the net. Just sit down and begin working.

It will help you stay focused if you know exactly what you have to do. So at the end of every day make a list of the writing tasks you have to do tomorrow. That way, when you sit down you just have to check your list and you'll know where to begin.

If you find you work better in the mornings, then get up early and write. If you work better in the evening, work late when the house is quiet and the rest of the family is asleep.

Just make sure you allocate a portion of every day to write. Then focus, and don't let your mind be distracted by anything else.

Once you get into a routine of writing regularly, you'll find that focusing and writing becomes extremely easy, and will be a habit you never want to break.

Ruth Barringham is a freelance writer, author and publisher. She has two websites to help writers at http://writeaholics.net and http://selfpublishworldwide.com. Her publishing company website is at http://cheritonhousepublishing.com.

An Interview with Paul Kilduff

As previewed in this post a few weeks ago, I'm delighted to welcome Irish author Paul Kilduff to my blog today. Paul is visiting as part of a Virtual Book Tour (VBT) to launch his new book, Ruinair, a tongue-in-cheek account of his experiences travelling round Europe with low-cost airlines. Without further ado, let's get down to the questions and answers...

1) Is this your first book, Paul?

No, I have written four financial thrillers previously for Hodder Headline in London. Ruinair is my first work of non fiction and is published in Ireland.

2) How long have you been writing and what started you off?

I began writing in 1998 - what started me was when I read a financial thriller where the author got a large advance and I knew I could write a book at least as good as his.

3) How would you describe the writing that you're doing?

It's vaguely funny travel writing at present, full of informative content, fast paced, lots of variety, topical stuff, with amusing anecdotes and some insights.

4) Who is your target audience? Who influenced you?

Passengers of the Irish low fares airline Ruinair and its CEO, Mick O'Leary! And all those who love travel writing and having a go at large corporations.

I was influenced by Bill Bryson, Pete McCarthy, Tim Moore, Don George, Simon Calder, Alain de Botton and many good guide books and maps over the years.

5) Is your fiction writing autobiographical at all?

My fiction features the work environments, places, cities, people, scams and scandals I had encountered in real life when I lived and worked in the City of London.

6) What are your biggest challenges as a writer?

Converting from writing fiction to non fiction was a big challenge. Also balancing a writing career as well as holding down a day job in a US investment bank.

7) Do you write every day, and how do you begin and end the process?

No, I work every day until I can retire! I write on weekends, holidays, Christmas, Easter, time off, and on my sick days off work!

8) What aspects of your writing do you enjoy most?

I enjoy the creativity, of producing an end product and seeing it on book shelves in shops, such as being the No. 1 non-fiction bestseller in Ireland right now. I enjoy being taken for slap up meals by my agent and editor in Dublin's top restaurants, and I enjoy PR work where I meet some of Ireland top radio personalities!

9) What is your book about and what inspired it?

My book is about travelling around Europe on a cheap Irish low fares airline called Ruinair and seeing the good and bad of a most amazing continent - all for a 1 cent fare!

10) What sets this book apart from what you've written in the past?

I think this current work of fiction is much more populist than my former financial thrillers. also I think non fiction is easier to write than draining your imagination for fiction.

11) How long did the whole process take, beginning to end?

I was abandoned by Ruinair in Malaga, Spain for 10 hours in August 2004, I began the book in 2005, finished it in 2006, sold it in 2007, and it was published in Feb 2008.

12) Did you begin writing for the love of it, or did you always aim to become published?

It was always my aim to have my books published - I really believe that's the main aim of any writing - I want to share my half-decent writing with as many people as possible.

13) What's your most significant achievement so far?

I think seeing the book enter the Irish non fiction bestseller list at no 1 and stay there for the past 7 weeks since publication has been fantastic.

14) Where do you get your ideas? Do you build characters and events slowly or do they come to you in a flash?

My ideas for travel books come to me when I am on the road - I have to travel and fly frequently to get my observational and literary powers humming.

15) What's next for you?

Next up is the sequel to Ruinair - this will be a book about travelling on low fares airlines to the 12 countries of Eastern Europe - the book is called 'Ruinairski', due Feb 09.

16) Do you have any advice for other budding authors out there?

I would say read all the books you can in your chosen genre, write often, read books on 'how to write', attend writing classes and workshops, persevere, be realistic, enjoy...

17) Finally, as we're conducting this interview online, I wondered if you could tell me what are your three favourite websites, and why?

1. www.ryanair.com
A great site for low fares travel on a friendly flexible Irish airline run by a shy retiring chief executive named Michael O'Leary. 'I'm probably just an obnoxious little bollocks. Who cares? The purpose is not to be loved. The purpose is to have the passengers on board.'

2. www.airlinequality.com
An extensive site about airlines and airports. Before I travel anywhere on any airline, I can check out what other flyers experienced and advise.

3. www.paulkilduff.com
I built my own site myself, using FrontPage. It's basic but full of content and often updated, and readers of both my fiction and non-fiction like it.

Many thanks to Paul for visiting my blog on his VBT, and for taking the trouble to answer these questions in forthright and entertaining style! If you have any further questions or comments for Paul, please feel free to post them here.

If you're inspired to try to follow Paul's example, dare I mention it, my CD course Write Any Book in Under 28 Days will help you get a book of your own completed in the shortest possible time. And my publishers, WCCL, also produce an excellent introductory guide to travel writing, written by my colleague Mel McIntyre.

For more information about Ruinair, clicking through here will take you to the publisher's sales page. I have also included an image link to the book at Amazon.co.uk below. Note that if you are receiving this post by email, you will need to visit my blog to see this.

Guest Post: Readers are Doomed!

I'm pleased to welcome another guest blogger today, Nigel Edwards from Letsgetpublished.com.

As you'll see from his article below, Nigel has some strong views about what the future holds for readers - and, by extension, writers. I'll let you read what he has to say, then give my personal response to his comments.

Readers are Doomed to Extinction!

That's a bald statement to read, isn't it? As it stands I imagine many, if not most writers would call it a ridiculous notion - but is it? Let me explain my thinking.

Ask this question: why is the written word so popular? The answer is that books provide the medium for people to indulge in their fantasies. They bring us escape from the drudgery and indifference of modern living, and have done so for a long, long time. Stories have entertained us for thousands of years, though only comparatively recently has the written word replaced the narrator. Imagine in pre-history a camp-fire was lit, and around it huddled a hunting party, squatting by its glowing warmth to hear their leader recount the time when he single-handedly bested a wild and enraged boar? That was perhaps the beginning of an oral tradition that was long appreciated, and indeed still is in some dwindling corners of the world; but this is the important point: where in modern society are the oral story-tellers now? What happened to that tradition? It's virtually gone. Why?

Once upon a time, someone figured out a way to capture thoughts and ideas in a physical medium and, to cut a long story short, invented writing. At first it was crude and limited, but over time it grew in sophistication until it came to a point where you didn't specifically need a story-teller with a great memory and a good voice; all you needed was to have someone write the words, thereby replacing the memory, and someone to read them - and remember, reading can be done silently. At first, as we know, the art of reading and writing was rare, and only a few had the skill. The old story-teller still had his place, perhaps as the reader of narrative, but by the time we come to the present day his presence is virtually nil, made redundant by education which spread the ability to read and write far and wide. When the general populace finally reached the point where the majority could read, I can imagine that there would still have been many people who remembered the enjoyment of the camp-fire and preferred to be read to, rather than read for themselves; but gradually their number declined, and with the advent of mass book production they all but disappeared.

And it's going to happen again. Sort of.

Who reads for pleasure today? According to many reports that I have come across the number of people actually reading books for pure enjoyment is on the decline. The reason is new technology. As the introduction of writing resulted in the death of oral tradition, so will the presence of new, more exiting methods of communication replace the book. It's a spreading canker. Take the cinema. A really good writer can construct a story that is gripping and thrilling, and can compete well with the cinema, except on one front - the reader has to interact with the story, become involved with it, and this requires the active use of their brain. You actually have to do some mental work to get the best out of a book. Now compare that with the cinema. What does it take to simply sit in a seat and let the mesmeric film envelope you. There's no need to read thousands of words to imagine the final confrontation at the OK Corral - there it is in glorious colour and surround sound, dished up for your gratification for the price of a ticket.

Do you see where this is leading, yet?

Take television. You don't need to go to the cinema to see and hear the movie; today it gets piped directly into your home. Press the button and there it is. You can record it, or buy the DVD, and play it over and over without having to exercise your interpretive powers one little bit. Then there are computers. You don't even need a television any more; just download the feature or film you want onto your laptop or desktop, or even your mobile phone! Entertainment wherever you go, and no more need to cart cumbersome volumes to your deckchair on the beach. Just pick up the phone and enjoy.

What this means is that the reader, the one thing over which no author has any control, no longer needs to read to get their pleasure. And if they don't need to, they won't. It's because they- we - are lazy. We always look for the easiest way to do something, and if we can get our thrills passively, why should we bother with getting them in any other way? The story-teller died out because he was old-fashioned, because people either had to go to him, or wait until he came to them; and people today are taking the next step, which is to discount the written word in favour of the instant gratification of immediate explosions of light and sound pulsed almost directly into their brains. You might say that technology has become the new story-teller. Could it be that we are coming full circle?

Not convinced?

The demographics for reading are changing. The days when our children all enjoyed the delight of a bedtime story are disappearing. How many youngsters now will pick up a book when there is the alternative of television, computer games, and the internet? Here's a bold prediction for you: within my lifetime the average age of a regular reader will rise to 60. Within 100 years the number of books being sold will drop to a point where the supermarkets don't even bother to stock them. Within 200 years the only people to read for pleasure will be the few remaining authors themselves, devouring each others' words in sad, cannibalistic indulgence. Let me know if I was wrong! ;)

So, not only the end for readers, but authors too in the general sense. Only those who can successfully adopt the skills needed to produce stories for translation into multi-sensual experiences will be able to make their way to public acclaim, and reap the rewards thereby associated. Why bother writing the intermediate step of a book when you can go straight for the final product? It's a corporate world we live in, and the money that is its blood will demand economies to maximise profit. The old fashioned, traditional writer of words for pleasure will become redundant, and virtually extinct.

Of course, I could be wrong...

Nigel Edwards, founder of Let's Get Published (http://www.letsgetpublished.com ) and author of PRISM - EXILES (http://www.lulu.com/nigeledwards - http://www.angrywildlegends.com ).

Thanks for a thought-provoking piece, Nigel. I largely agree with the points made above, although I think it will be a while yet before books become a thing of the past. Yes, people increasingly want their entertainment in multimedia formats. But equally, you only have to look around any beach or swimming pool on a hot summer's day to see that books still have something going for them. And it's still the case that popular films and TV series are spun-off into book form.

But Nigel is definitely right about one thing - writers today need to become (multi)media savvy. Even 'literary' authors can longer afford to focus exclusively on producing fine prose, when in many cases it is the potential for a book to be adapted into a variety of media that determines whether or not publishing it will be viable.

Anyway, those are Nigel's thoughts, and my responses. What do YOU think? Feel free to post any comments below!

Guest Post: All About WEbook

I'm pleased to introduce a guest post today from Melissa Jones, Content Manager of WEbook.com and author of the WEbook blog.

For those who don't know, WEbook is a community writing, editing and publishing project. It aims to use the power of the internet to bring writers together and get them to pool their talents in collaborative writing ventures.

I'm convinced that projects such as WEbook are going to become very big indeed in the years ahead, as new ways of working together creatively with the aid of the net are explored and developed. WEbook offers any writer the opportunity to get involved and see for themselves how online collaboration can work in practice. But perhaps I'd better move aside and let Melissa explain more...

WEbook: The People's Publisher - by Melissa Jones

It's no secret that the traditional publishing industry is - how can I put this? - a bit behind the times.

Every year, a handful of editors select a handful of books and, through massive marketing and PR, attempt to turn them into blockbusters. How they decide which books to promote heavily is largely guess-work; as William Strachan, editor in chief at Carroll & Graf Publishers said in a 2007 New York Times article, "Nobody has the key." That same article points out that, while publishers use the internet to market to their readers, "information rarely flows the other way - from readers back to the editors."

Enter WEbook.com, the people's publisher. Founded by Itai Kohavi, author of two novels and a children's book, WEbook is based on a radically different model, bringing together the best elements of social networking, crowd-sourcing, and web technology to change the way books are written and published. At WEbook, essentially, the readers are the editors.

So what can you do at WEbook?

• Read and Review. WEbook has hundreds of active projects, including collections of articles on everything from the first year of teaching to the first sexual experience. Find a project you're interested in, and read and give feedback to others' work.
• Write. Contribute a new story, poem, or article to an existing project. Or, if you have a book idea of your own, start a new project. You'll be able to decide whether you want to write your book by yourself, get feedback from other WEbookers, or invite your friends to contribute.
• Connect. Project forums allow you to brainstorm about your ideas, solicit research or other assistance, or just chat about writing. You can also connect with other writers on the site-wide forums, and by joining a group.
• Get Published. When a book is completed, it can be submitted for publication. WEbook isn't about choices made by one or two folks behind their desks. Instead, the entire WEbook community votes on which books are worthy. WEbook will consider the highest-rated books for publication, and authors get a 50% share of profits from book sales.

While community votes will ultimately determine what goes to press, we're particularly excited about a few projects that are creating a lot of buzz, both on and off the site. Ex-Pat Journal chronicles the adventures of WEbookers in Thailand, Korea, Costa Rica, France, Cambodia, Nigeria, and - wait for it - Canada. 101 Things Every Man Should Know How to Do is the ultimate guide to guydom, covering cooking a steak to fighting a bear. And Nano Stories challenges writers to create a dramatic arc in 500 words or less.

For a low-pressure entry point to the site, try Haiku Life Stories or The Writing Salon. If you feel like settling in for a good read, you'll be pleased to find quite a few brave souls writing novels on WEbook. I recommend checking out The Open, a tale of vengeance and golf; A Case of Judgment, which puts a modern spin on a classic horror tale; and In the Wake of the Enchantress, a historical novel set in the early days of World War I.

WEbook recently published its first book, Pandora, a romantic thriller written by 34 writers, editors, and other contributors - including me! (once you buy the book, flip to chapters 17 and 26 to read my contribution). If you want to check out the first few chapters for free you can read them here or text the word "webook" to phone number 41411 on your mobile and read them on your very own web-enabled phone. WEbook launched to the public in mid-April. Since then, the number of active projects has grown at a feverish pace, with more new work added every day.

We'll be opening our first voting cycle in the coming months. For now, drop by the site to read, give feedback, and write, and to connect with a fast-growing network of like-minded folks out to revolutionize the publishing world.

50 Awesome Open Source Resources for Online Writers

That's the title of a very useful article I discovered recently on the massive Job Profiles website.

It lists 50 open source (i.e. free!) resources that may be relevant to writers, including word processors, grammar checkers, personal organizers, and many other handy tools.

For each resource, the author - Christina Laun - provides a paragraph of description and a link to the relevant website. Here's an example from the list:

wikidPad: This tool is a wiki-style notepad that allows users to to quickly and easily jot down their ideas and notes. Perhaps one of the best features of it is that it allows you to easily cross-reference information, helping you more easily draw plot points and facts together.

There are some great resources in this list, including a number I hadn't seen before and will be checking out in the coming weeks. And, of course, you can't beat the price!

Take a look at 50 Awesome Open Source Resources for Online Writers for yourself. I'll be surprised if there isn't something in it to interest you.

Book Proposal Secrets - $10 Discount

A while ago in this post I mentioned Book Proposal Secrets, the latest in WCCL's range of products and courses for writers.

Book Proposal Secrets takes you step by step through everything you need to know to create a book proposal that will knock the socks off a potential publisher.

I've had some good feedback from those of you who have bought Book Proposal Secrets, but one comment that came back to me was that some of you felt that at $47 it was a bit pricey. I'm not sure I agree with that actually, as if it enables you to get just one book contract from a publisher, it will have paid for itself many times over.

But even so, I appreciate that $47 isn't just small change. So I've found a 'back door' way to get readers of this blog an extra $10 discount.

Just click on any of the links to Book Proposal Secrets in this post and you will be taken to a special, unadvertised order page, where you can get Book Proposal Secrets for just $37 (that's just over 19 UK pounds for those of you on this side of the pond).

This is perfectly legal and legitimate, but I don't know how long the special price will be available - so if you're interested in buying Book Proposal Secrets, I strongly recommend you don't wait too long. If the link doesn't work, I'm sorry, but it means the offer will have been pulled by WCCL.

By the way, if you want to see the full sales page for Book Proposal Secrets you can do so by clicking here, but DON'T order via this page or you will be charged the full 47 bucks. Use the special links in this post.

And finally, the links in this post will take you to the standard credit/debit card order page, but if you'd prefer to pay by Paypal - and still get the $10 discount - please use this special Paypal link.

Happy proposal writing!

Win a Nick Daws Novelty Book!

Regular readers of this blog will know that I write a steady stream of novelty and trivia items for various clients. I enjoy the break from my more 'serious' writing, and although I'll never get rich from this source, it provides me with a steady income.

I've just taken delivery of my authors' copies of a couple of novelty books I wrote last year, so I thought it might be fun to give one of each away as a contest prize. I'll explain the contest in just a moment. The books are 365 Ways to Have Fun at Work (pictured) and 365 Ways to Wreak Revenge. Obviously, they are both tongue-in-cheek. Here's a sample item from 365 Ways to Have Fun at Work...

Pranks

Here's an amusing little prank to lighten anyone's day. First, make a voodoo doll of your victim (it doesn't have to be particularly lifelike). Then, go up to the person and, right in front of them, start stabbing the doll with a pin. Of course, nothing will happen, and your victim will probably laugh at you. Then just take the pin and stab them in the same spot as you did the doll...

And here's one of the items in 365 Ways to Wreak Revenge...

Revenge on a Co-Worker

Let's call your target Frank. Go up to Frank, when he's talking with Dave and a group of others, and say, 'Hey, Frank, do your impression of Dave!' When Frank protests that he doesn't do an impression of Dave, you say, 'Don't be modest, you had the whole room in fits yesterday.' Then leave.

If you'd like to win either of these essential reference guides - which I'm happy to sign if you like - all you have to do is post a comment on this blog post saying which book you would like to win, and why.

I will award one copy of each title to whoever comes up with the most amusing (to me) reason for wanting the book in question in under 150 words. Please note that you can post your entry anonymously if you don't have a Google account, but it will help if you include your name so I know how to refer to you. To post your comment, just scroll down to the bottom of this post and click on Comments (yes, kind of obvious, I know...). Comments on this blog are moderated, so there will be a short delay before your entry appears.

The closing date for this contest is Friday 16 May 2008, so you should have plenty of time. Just one entry per person, please (so make it a good one).

By the way, these books are classed as novelty goods, so you can't order them from bookshops. So unless you happen to see them in the shops, this is the ONLY way you will get your hands on one!

* See this contest and many others listed at The Prize Finder website.

The contest is now closed. Results will be announced on this blog on Monday 19 May.

Writing Workshop in Italy

Who fancies going on a ten-day writing workshop in beautiful Bolsena, Italy? OK, I guess that's most of you then!

I've been contacted by one of the organisers of the workshop in question, the American author Teresa Cutler. You can see the details she provided below - and the best thing is, readers of this blog qualify for a special discount!

If you would like more information about the workshop and the discount for my blog readers, please email Teresa at the address at the foot of this post. Don't forget to tell her you read about this on Nick Daws' Writing Blog!

Scrivere in Italia!

Join Inkwell, Inc. & Life in Italy LLC for a ten-day writing retreat/workshop in beautiful Bolsena, Italy, October 10 - 19, 2008. Special offer for all Nick Daws writing blog readers.

This workshop has been designed for writers of all kinds - fiction, memoir, creative non-fiction, and especially travel - at early and intermediate stages of their writing careers who wish to expand their skills and enjoy Italy.

The workshop/retreat will offer talks by well-known authors including Dario Castagno and others, and professional photographers, and we will take a number of half-day tours for inspiration to towns many tourists never see, searching for the story no one else has written or the moment that sparks that story in you. Through the ancient history that gathers in every piazza, and in every voice speaking the beautiful Italian language, you will find a well-spring of ideas.

Short workshops will be offered daily and facilitated by Teresa Cutler.

Italy provides an extraordinary environment in which to create rich and vivid essays for travel writers, and the workshops will give you the tools to develop them. Additionally, Italy gives fiction characters depth, and the workshops will help move them toward their ultimate destiny.

You will have as much time to write as you need every day, and always have the choice to work instead of attend a workshop or go on a tour.

Our goal is to help participants not only develop their writing skills but to use Italy and its wonders as inspiration and as muse.

Accommodations will be at an elegant and historic hotel in Bolsena overlooking the lake, and daily workshops and seminars will be held at a centuries-old home right on Via Francigena, owned by Paolo Nascimbeni of Life in Italy. Paolo's house will be available every day, all day, for brainstorming or talking about your projects in the quaint kitchen, writing on the terrace, or discussing the day's inspirations in one of the sitting rooms. High-speed Internet is available as well.

The cost is approximately 2000 Euros. This includes all workshop fees plus nine nights of accommodation, and breakfasts from Friday through Sunday. ** Note that for 2008 we have been able to add lunch and dinners to most days of the retreat, to help offset the cost of the rising Euro for our American clients.

Airfare to Rome and transportation from Rome to Bolsena is not included. A train from Rome to nearby Orvieto or Montefiascone is quite inexpensive and we will provide transportation from either of those towns to your hotel!

For all Nick Daws writing blog readers, a discount will apply to the tuition. Please write to Teresa at inkwell.inc.tlc-at-gmail.com for more information (change the -at- for the usual @ sign). And to apply, please fill out these forms and email them soon.

Come with us to Italy, and explore its magic while learning how to write!

10 Things You May Not Know About The WCCL Network

In this blog I quite often refer to my publishers, The WCCL Network. However, from the feedback I get I know that there are still quite a few misunderstandings about them. So I thought I would take this opportunity to cast a little more light on WCCL (as I'll call them for short from now on).

1. WCCL is the online arm of White Cliff Computing Limited, an international new media group. And despite what some people think, I am not employed by WCCL, and I certainly don't own them!

2. The Managing Director of WCCL is Karl Moore. Karl is an author of two published books on computer programming. He is also a self-development guru of international renown. As well as his homepage, he has a blog at www.karlblog.com and a self-development forum at www.karlforum.com.

3. WCCL is an online publishing company. As such it is quite different from Clickbank, which is simply a self-publishing platform. All WCCL courses, manuals and software products are commissioned from specialist authors and software designers. All WCCL courses and manuals are professionally edited, designed and produced.

4. WCCL currently offers nearly 100 different product lines, in categories including Writers & Artists, Self-Development, Internet Business Tools, Computer Privacy tools, Windows Utilities, and UK Driving Products. In total they sell nearly 2000 different products.

5. WCCL runs one of the best affiliate programs on the internet. If you have a blog or website, you can sign up with them to promote any (or all) of their products. You will then receive a generous commission any time someone makes a purchase via your link. See my blog post about this for more info.

6. WCCL also provides a range of free services for writers. These include the forum Mywriterscircle.com (which I run in partnership with them), the internet radio station WritersFM, the writers chat room at www.mywriterschat.com, and the free Smart Writers newsletter. In addition, this blog is sponsored by WCCL.

7. WCCL are always happy to consider proposals for new courses and manuals that will fit into their portfolio. If you have an idea for such a product (or, indeed, already have such a product) you are welcome to submit a proposal and outline to them in the normal way. If they like your idea, they will make you an offer. I shan't provide contact details here, as I wouldn't like them to be inundated; but if you are keen, I'm sure you can soon discover this information for yourself.

8. WCCL also have a number of free giveaways. These include the writers' giveaway site, the self-growth giveaway, the software giveaway, and their free Motivator software. Thousands of dollars of free software are available from these sites. You may have to sign up to receive a newsletter as a condition of obtaining it, but you can of course unsubscribe at any time.

9. WCCL provide a free online helpdesk service at www.myhelphub.com. This operates 24/7, and offers advice and assistance to buyers of all WCCL products (you won't find anything like this at Clickbank, by the way!).

10. Finally, WCCL have an active program of charitable giving. Among other things, in the last year they have donated sheep and beehives to help develop starving towns in Africa and the East, provided over 6,550 cups of food to feed thousands of starving children, given over 2,500 UK pounds in food to starving and abused cats and dogs in north-east England, organized free relaxation workshops for thousands of nurses in British Columbia, Canada, and provided food for rescued wild horses at the Black Beauty Ranch, Texas. So if you buy any product from WCCL (including any of my courses!), you can be confident that some of your money will be going to support these and other excellent causes!